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The Portuguese language

Today it is one of the world's major languages, ranked 6th according to number of native speakers (approximately 177 million[1]). It is the language with the largest number of speakers in South America, spoken by all of Brazil's population, excluding a small number of indigenous tribes. This amounts to over 51% of the continent's population even though it is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas. It is also a major lingua franca in Portugal's former colonial possessions in Africa. It is the official language of ten countries, also being co-official with Spanish and French in Equatorial Guinea, with CantoneseChinese in the Chinese special administrative region of Macau, and with Tetum in East Timor. There are sizable communities of Portuguese-speakers in various regions of North America, notably in the United States (New Jersey, New England and south Florida) and in Ontario, Canada.